Hikaru no go SPIN OFF
by Ashtrek
Summary: the plot is set a month after the hakuto cup. Hikaru continues to progress while another pro tournament is approaching..


**Rockistarz: I'm an avid fan of Hikaru no go and for the first time, I'm making a fic about it. Hope ya'll gonna enjoy it! **

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN HIKARU NO GO, only the plot.**

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****hikaru no go; SPIN OFF**

Ever since the Hokuto cup, Akira and Hikaru had gotten quite close. It was true, the rumor that had been going around since Shindo became an insei that Touya Akira recognized him as his rival. Especially now that many are recognizing how skillful he is. Even the upper-class dans are having a run for their money as a new wave is coming into the world of pros, including Kurata-san, 6-dan, 10-dan and Kuwabara-san, the current Honinbo title holder.

It was Thursday and Hikaru had a game at the institute. He had become a regular since most of his games are held there. His opponent is Genichi-san, a 6-dan. He was not weak, but the gap in strength was evident, Hikaru was superior and there was a large difference in territory.

"My line-up near the upper-left corner is being surrounded. If I try to move here, he'll gain territory." Genichi thought as he paused to watch the positions of his stones.

"Then I'll place it here." He thought as he placed his stone on the tengen . He smirked, thinking that he had made a great comeback but unfortunately for him Hikaru had that coming and used it to his advantage.

"I..I lost" he resigned after he was defeated. They discussed what went wrong with Genichi's game plan.

"You were too focused on protecting your position here that you failed to notice the opening you created." They went on for a while and thanked each other for the game.

After the brief discussion, Hikaru quietly stood up and went to record his victory and made a kifu of his game. After he finished it, he went to take a quick peek of Touya's game which was just behind him. It only took him a second or so to know that Touya was already winning that's why there was no reason why he had to stay. He uttered a very soft "later" then left. Of course, what he meant was that they were to meet later at the go salon to review their games. Touya and his opponent bowed and stood up. Before Hikaru was about to leave the institute, Akira caught up with him.

"How was your opponent?" Akira asked as both of them went to eat lunch at the salon.

"Just fairly strong, he is just not careful with the moves he makes." Hikaru replied.

"Oh."

Akira and Hikaru arrived at the salon where most geezers would come to play. They had been a frequent vistors and the Toyas owns the place, that's why they get to play for free.

"Young master!" an old man greeted as he looked up from playing go. Everyone in the place address Touya Akira as 'Young Master' since he's more like the prince of go with Touya Meijin as the king. He'd been called by that since he ever played go while Hikaru was called…well, Hikaru. **[But all that will change, right?]**

"Uhmm, ichikawa-san, Shindo and I will just stay in the back. Please make sure no one interrupts us." Akira requested, leaving his bags on the counter. The cashier nodded. Everyone in the area near where Hikaru and Akira would stay left. They didn't want to be near when the two would have their 'grade-school' fight.

"uhhh. Here we go again. Soon, it's going to end up in a dispute." Another old man stated. Everyone who heard his comment agreed but Ichikawa had another feeling.

"I don't think so." The old man looked at her after hearing what she said.

"What makes you say that, Harumi?" he asked.

"Akira-kun told me not to let anyone disturb them. If it were just another fight, he wouldn't even bother saying that. Maybe they're going to have a match."

Everyone looked at the two's direction wondering what makes this match important. It would happen only once in a while, almost every end of the month and surprisingly, they don't end up fighting. They decided to take a closer look by nearing their distance a little bit.

**Back at Shindo and Touya. . .**

They were both eating their lunches when they noticed that the people around them were looking. It gave Shindo a fright since he was not used to people observing him while eating. He closed his head near to Akira.

"Hey, Touya, why are they looking at us? Did we do something?" he whispered while swallowing his food down his throat. Akira looked at Shindo and asked, "Does it bother you that much?"

Hikaru shook his head. He explained saying that he was not used to people watching him from a far. Akira sighed and turned his head.

"It's okay, Minna-san. You can watch us play."

And in an instant flash, everyone was beside them already. They all had anxious look written all over their faces, obviously wanting to watch the two's game. It's not everyday that they get to watch the two pros have a serious match. Akira and hikaru closed and packed their bentous, readying themselves for their unofficial match. They took the goban, placed it in the center of the table and nigiried in order to decide who will be black and who will be white. Akira picked white while Hikaru, black.

"onegaishimasu. . ." both bowed and greeted. Akira made the first move by placing a stone in grid 5-15. Hikaru followed by placing a stone in 5-14, right beside Akira's stone.

**[Fast forward to the middle of the game]**

Both were giving their all to this game, both not wanting to back down. Akira had the advantage since he had a 1.5 moku lead in territory and he tried to protect it throughout the game. Hikaru had trouble catching up since it was hard breaking through his opponent's wall of defense. If he tried to grab a territory, Akira would also make one. The situation was so tense that the atmosphere became heavy. Even the people in the sidelines were so quiet that you wouldn't even know they were there. They had cold sweat running down their forehead. No one dared to blink unnecessary, afraid of missing even the tiniest bit of detail of the game.

Hikaru turned the tables by seeing the tiniest opening Akira unconsciously made. If normal people were playing, they wouldn't notice that small opening He saw but Hikaru, with his brilliant reading of the go board did. He surrounded one of Akira's stones, capturing one territory. The hand he did drew him close to the total of territories but he was still behind by a half moku. Akira realized his earlier blunder and cursed.

"Damn. He was able to read that mistake. If these go on, he might capture another one of my stones. I have to be careful from now on." Akira thought to himself.

Carefully, Akira protected his small lead of half a moku throughout the game. Every move Hikaru did affected Akira's defence, but he was stubborn. He did not let his small lead go to waste by jumping to the enemy's plans. He placed his stones where it would be difficult for Hikaru to deflect, but Hikaru was also as stubborn as Akira. He kept on pursuing that lead and looked for possible openings in Akira's game. The time allotted was 2 hours and time was running out for him. In the end, Hikaru lost by half a moku.

The result was Hikaru; 67 moku and Akira;67.5

"ahhhh..I lost again. I read that mistake you did and reduced the lead by half but it still wasn't enough." Hikaru wailed as he scratched his head. The people in the sidelines let out a sigh of excitement. The game was so tense and exciting that no one did but watched it. Just when they thought that Hikaru was going to lose, he turned the tables and tried to catch up with Akira. At that one moment, they had one thing going on in their mind,

"Shindo Hikaru truly is Touya Akira's rival."

Hikaru, who noticed Akira's silence asked. "You okay, Touya?" Akira looked at Hikaru as he heard his question.

"Yeah, I'm okay. The game you played today was brilliant. The moves you did prevented me from getting more territory." Touya praised. True enough it was really brilliant, but what exactly was going inside his mind was much more than a praise.

"The skills he had last month was nothing like this. His go was strong but it was not something that could easily defeat an equally strong opponent... Yet now, it's developed. And his ability to read ahead is extraordinary. If he can grow that much in just a month's time, he. . .it's scary just thinking about it. I have to strive to become stronger or else he'll catch up to me."

This was Akira's assessment of Hikaru abilities. Even now, he could still not fathom Hikaru's true potential. He stared at the road ahead and was grateful that he entered the world of go.

**END**

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**Rockistarz: there you go! Watch out for the next chapter..**


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